ESTATE DECARBONISATION
Money and carbon-saving benefits for OUH project
Jeenash Mistry, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s head of Operational Estates & Facilities, and Chris Yeo, director of Low Carbon Solutions at Vital Energi, describe a well-executed major decarbonisation project, undertaken against tight timescales, at two of the Trust’s hospitals, on which the total expenditure – including £29.8 m received from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), was just over £38 m.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) is initiated by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and delivered by Salix Finance. It provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures, and supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037, compared with a 2017 baseline. NHS England’s Greener NHS programme gives a
four-step approach to decarbonising the NHS Estate: 1: Make every kWh count: Investing in ‘no-regrets’ energy-saving measures.
2: Preparing buildings for electricity-led heating: upgrading the building fabric.
3: Switching to non-fossil fuel heating: investing in innovative new energy sources.
4: Increasing on-site renewables: investing in on-site generation.
The OUH bidding strategy and timeline The OUH NHS Foundation Trust’s bid was to decarbonise the two hospitals with the most retained estate areas – the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. We felt it was important to decarbonise all our retained estate in a one-off, cohesive programme. We also had to be realistic, only bid for what was achievable, and ensure that there would be a minimal impact on daily patient care, as we could not shut down clinical areas. With only 12 weeks to prepare the bid, largely over
the summer holiday period, the project team was under enormous time pressure to draft a Business Case that showed the need and potential return on investment, and to get it through the Trust’s internal governance procedures.
However, the Trust’s Executive Board recognised this
project’s importance, and gave it high priority to ensure that the Business Case was properly scrutinised and not held up at any stage. Externally, the team was also given excellent support by Salix, and OUH’s bid was delivered to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero by the October 2022 deadline.
From award to mobilisation In January 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero granted PSDS funding of £24.1 m for the John Radcliffe, and £5.7 m for the Horton General Hospital. In addition, OUH paid £8.4 m towards the wider scheme, taking the total expenditure to £38.2m over a three-year period. The work at the Horton had to be completed by the financial year end of 2024, and work at the John
Roof-mounted solar photovoltaic panels at Horton General Hospital.
Below left: A new high efficiency pump installed at Horton Hospital as part of the transition to variable flow heating circuits.
Below right: New insulated LTHW heating pipework.
April 2025 Health Estate Journal 23
All photos are used courtesy of Vital Energi
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